Practice area
Intellectual property
An idea becomes an asset at the point it is registered, recorded or written into a contract. Until then it is only an idea.
We advise businesses, creators and inventors on identifying what they own, securing it where the law provides a means to, and protecting its value both in commercial use and in dispute.
What we advise on
- Trademarks
- Availability searches, applications at the Trademarks, Patents and Designs Registry, renewals, oppositions and the management of a growing portfolio.
- Copyright
- Ownership and authorship, assignments and waivers, and notification with the Nigerian Copyright Commission.
- Patents and industrial designs
- Registration of inventions and designs, and advice on what the law will and will not protect.
- Trade secrets and confidential information
- Non-disclosure agreements, employee and contractor obligations, and the terms that keep know-how out of a competitor’s hands.
- Licensing and commercialisation
- Licences, assignments, franchising and royalty arrangements, so that a right earns its keep on terms its owner has considered.
- Enforcement
- Infringement, passing off and counterfeiting, from cease and desist correspondence through to proceedings.
Registration is the beginning, not the end
A certificate is evidence of a right; it is not the same as protecting one. Rights lapse when renewals are missed, narrow when they are registered in the wrong classes, and lose their value when they are licensed on careless terms.
We advise on the whole life of a right: what to register, where, in whose name, and what has to happen afterwards to keep it worth holding.
Our approach
We begin with what a client actually owns, which is often more than they realise and occasionally less than they assume. From there we advise on the protection that is proportionate to the asset and to the commercial use intended for it.
Speak with our team
Tell us about your matter and we will advise on the next step.
Discuss protecting your work